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By Martin Graham | 26th Apr 2023
Real Madrid have lost more momentum in their bid to defend their LaLiga title after losing 4 – 2 to Catalonia-based Girona.
The City Football Group club sealed their most famous victory in the 20th and 21st century by beating the LaLiga defending champions at home. Nothing Carlo Ancelotti and his team did worked against the side who are looking to participate in European football next season.
All four Girona goals were scored by Valentin “Taty” Castellanos in an Erling Haaland-esque performance against a Madrid defence that had Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal and Ignacio Iglesias, known mononymously as Nacho.
Vinicius Junior tried to spark a comeback after Taty Castellanos had scored a brace in the first 25 minutes of the game. Castellanos would score with Girona’s first attack of the second half before wrapping up the points in the 62nd minute.
Vinicius would show why he is Real Madrid’s most important player by assisting Lucas Vazquez for their second of the night but his efforts and that of the rest of the team would amount to nothing, keeping them 11 points behind Barcelona, who take on Rayo Vallecano at the Estádio de Vallecas on Wednesday.
Castellanos made history as the first man to put four past Real Madrid in the 20th century. Not even Messi has been able to achieve this feat, despite scoring a few hattricks and braces against Los Merengues.
It was a performance that betrayed Ancelotti’s sentiments about his side’s quality being higher than that of Barcelona this season despite the points gap between both teams.
A win against Rayo Vallecano would see the gap between the El Clasico rivals increase to 14 points, meaning that the Catalan giants will only need two wins and a draw from their next seven games to officially wrap up the league.
Madrid have been impressive in all competitions but league football has once again proven to be their biggest problem. Since their run in the early years of the league and between 1960 to 1979, they have struggled to hold on to their throne as the kings of Spain.
An impressive run in the new millennium saw Barcelona close a gap of more than 15 titles to under ten titles. The record LaLiga holders won two of the last three to increase the lead to nine titles but Barcelona will surely be winning their 27th to cut down the lead to eight titles.
Ancelotti, however, has two trophies in his sight but Florentino Perez will be worried about their league run ahead of next season.
Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer
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